Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/smerkъ

This Proto-Slavic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Slavic

Alternative forms

• *smerka, *smьrkъ, *smьrčь and possibly others

Etymology

Unknown.

• Dubiously compared to Old Armenian մայր (mayr, “cedar; pine; juniper”), which is however connected to Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr (“mother”) found in Slavic as *mati.
• Also compared with Persian سرو (sarv, “cypress”) which however probably contradicts the other comparison since this is more easily related with Old Armenian սարոյ (saroy, “cypress”) and սարդ (sard, “cedar of Lebanon”), and the Slavic matches better the presumably related Akkadian 𒋗𒌫𒎙 (šu-ur₂-min₃ /⁠šurmēnu⁠/, “cypress”), from Sumerian 𒋗𒌫𒈨 (šu-ur₂-me /⁠šurmen⁠/, “cypress”), which gainsays a Proto-Indo-European relation. Because of the variation of forms, also trusting in a Polish *svьrkъ, Trubachev opts for an Iranian borrowing from a form *sr̥vaka-, *sarvaka-, *sr̥maka-, *sarmaka-, however the distribution of the spruce or juniper is a drawback for this theory.
• Compared to *smьrděti (“to stink”)
• Compared to Proto-Germanic *smerwą (“grease, fat”)
• Compare Old Chinese 杉 (*sreːm /⁠*sreːm⁠/, “fir; pine”)

Noun

*smerkъ m

1. spruce

Declension

Declension of *smerkъ (hard o-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*smerkъ	*smerka	*smerci
genitive	*smerka	*smerku	*smerkъ
dative	*smerku	*smerkoma	*smerkomъ
accusative	*smerkъ	*smerka	*smerky
instrumental	*smerkъmь, *smerkomь*	*smerkoma	*smerky
locative	*smercě	*smerku	*smercěxъ
vocative	*smerče	*smerka	*smerci

^* -ъmь in North Slavic, -omь in South Slavic.

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: смьрчь (smĭrčĭ, “cedar”)
  • Carpathian Rusyn: смере́ка (smeréka)
    • →? Slovak: smerek
  • Ukrainian: смере́ка (smeréka, “spruce”), dialectally смере́к (smerék, “spruce”)
    • →? Polish: smerek
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: смръчь (smrŭčĭ, “cedar”), смрѣчь (smrěčĭ, “cedar”), смрѣча (smrěča, “cedar”)
  • Russian Church Slavonic: смрьчь (smrĭčĭ, “juniper”)
  • Bulgarian: смърч (smǎrč, “spruce”), смрика (smrika, “juniper”)
  • Macedonian: смрча (smrča, “spruce”), смрека (smreka, “juniper”)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: смре̏ка (“spruce; juniper”), смр̏ча (“spruce”), смр̑ч (“juniper”), смри̏ка (“juniper”), шмрѝка (“juniper”), смри̏ч (“juniper”), смре̏ч (“juniper”), смрѐква (“juniper”), смре̏к (“juniper”), смриква (“juniper”), шмриква (“juniper”)

    Latin script: smrȅka (“spruce; juniper”), smȑča (“spruce”), smȓč (“juniper”), smrȉka (“juniper”), šmrìka (“juniper”), smrȉč (“juniper”), smrȅč (“juniper”), smrèkva (“juniper”), smrȅk (“juniper”), smrikva (“juniper”), šmrikva (“juniper”)

  • Slovene: smrẹ́ka (“spruce”)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: smrk (“spruce”)
    • Czech: smrk (“spruce”)
  • Old Polish: świrk (“spruce”), świrzk (“spruce”)
    • Polish: świerk (“spruce”), świrk (dialectal), świrek (Near Masovian)
  • Slovak: smrek (“spruce”), smerek
    • → Polish: smrek (“spruce”) (from at least 1472), smerek (Orawa, Podhale), smyrek (West-Podhale, Cieszyn Silesia)
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: šmŕok (“spruce”), later škŕok (“spruce”)
    • Upper Sorbian: šmrěk (“spruce”)

Further reading

• Boryś, Wiesław (2005) “Proto-Slavic/smerkъ”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (in Polish), Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, →ISBN, page 622
• Olander, Thomas (2001) “*smerka”, in Common Slavic Accentological Word List‎^[1], Copenhagen: Editiones Olander: “a (SA 155)”
• Трубачёв, Олег Николаевич (a. 2002) Труды по этимологии: Слово · История · Культура (in Russian), volume II, Moscow: Языки славянской культуры, published 2005, →ISBN, pages 54–55
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “смерч”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress